BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer communication protocol that enables a BitTorrent client to download fixed size segments of a torrent content file from one or plural peers in order to reconstitute the torrent content file, e.g. a movie or song. The BitTorrent client thereto needs a unique torrent content identifier with which it contacts an Internet tracker which holds a list of the peers that store segments of the torrent content file. This unique torrent content identifier is advertised as upfront knowledge in the torrent content metafile. The BitTorrent client receives the IP addresses of these peers from the Internet tracker and consequently can start exchanging segments with these peers in order to download and reconstitute the entire torrent content file. The BitTorrent client thereto needs the torrent content file size, the number of segments in which the torrent content file has been divided and the fixed length for all but the last such segments. These metadata are also advertised as upfront knowledge in the torrent content metafile.
The drawback of the above described, known method for downloading and caching torrent content is that the torrent content metafile may not always be available to all the clients that desire to download the torrent content file, as a result of which downloading and caching the torrent content file is not possible for clients that have no access to the torrent content metafile.
It is an objective of the present invention to disclose a method and device for reconstructing missing torrent content metadata that is necessary to allow the download of a torrent content file without having access to the torrent content metafile.